Return of the Bison

chalc3d0ny

By chalc3d0ny

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Yellowstone is home to an incredibly unique bison herd. Why is it unique? Well, there a number of things that distinguish it from others. Take, for instance, the fact that they were the only herd in the lower 48 states to remain in-tact despite incredible over-hunting elsewhere. Their numbers dwindled to only 23 individuals at the turn of the 20th century.

However, despite those astonishingly low numbers, their gene pool can be traced back to the Ice Age. That’s pretty remarkable!

With the care of conservation biologists at Yellowstone, their numbers have grown to over 3,000 animals. Now the focus has shifted from protection to proliferation, speading out the herd into different locations so that one natural disaster doesn’t mean extinction for the bison.

Learn more about bison conservation efforts and what it means to local Native American tribes in the video.